Artistic Staff

Our Directors:

Denise Vogt, Artistic Director

Denise Vogt, Twin Cities
Ballet's Artistic Director, trained in her native England under
principal dancers from the English Royal Ballet and Ballet Rambert. She
also studied theater, drama, and dance for three years at The London
Studio Center, and was a finalist for the Tom Merryfield Award in London. Denise holds Associate Teaching Certificates from the Royal Academy
of Dance in Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Ballet.

Denise began her professional dance
career at the age of 19, when she left England and joined the Kiel
Capitol City Theater Ballet in Germany . She spent the next seven years
in Germany, where she also danced with the Osnabrück Contemporary Dance
Theater and the State Theater Kassel Ballet. Denise danced in a wide
range of ballets and contemporary pieces, including solo roles in such
varied works as Peer Gynt, Swan Lake, Fancy Free, Nutcracker, Giselle,
and as the young Isadora Duncan in Life of Isadora. She also performed
in the stage musicals West Side Story, The Man from La Mancha, and
Chicago.

Denise has taught master classes in
England, Germany and Los Angeles. Since moving to the USA in 1989,
Denise has taught at many Twin Cities schools, including the University
of Minnesota, the Classical Ballet Academy of Minnesota in St. Paul, and
the St. Paul Public School System. She was on the faculty at Ballet
Arts Minnesota (now Minnesota Dance Theatre & The Dance Institute) for twelve years, taught
company class for Minnesota Dance Theatre in Minneapolis, and developed
and directed a ballet program at DanceWorks in Lakeville for 14 years.
Denise is currently the Co-Director with her husband Rick of Ballet
Royale Minnesota, one of the foremost classical ballet schools
in Minnesota, and the official school
of Twin Cities Ballet.

In addition to dancing and teaching,
Denise has over three decades or choreographic experience; she has
choreographed over 60 pieces for both professional companies and
schools, in England, Germany, and the USA. Denise is one of the founders and has been the Artistic
Director and primary choreographer of Twin Cities Ballet since its
inception in 2003. Denise
is also a winner of the Dakota County Tribune's "2011 Exceptional
Businesswomen Award."

Rick Vogt, Associate Artistic Director

Rick Vogt, TCB's Associate Artistic Director, was born
in St. Paul, where he first trained and danced with Jo Savino's original
Classical Ballet Academy of Minnesota / St. Paul City Ballet. He also studied on scholarship with San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and
David Howard's in New York, and the University of Utah Ballet Majors
Program.

Professionally, Rick was a Soloist and Principal dancer in
Germany with the Kiel Capitol City Theater Ballet and the State Theater
Kassel, in the U.S. with Nevada Dance Theater and Utah Ballet, and locally as a
guest artist with Ballet Minnesota in St. Paul and Twin Cities Ballet
of Minnesota. He has danced principal
and solo roles in classics such as Coppelia, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet,
Swan Lake, Peer Gynt, Fancy Free, a myriad of roles in the Nutcracker including the Cavalier/Grand Pas de Deux, Drosselmeyer, Snow King & Mouse King, and other jazz, rock
and contemporary works. He has also danced with Ballet West, The
Washington Ballet (D.C.), Arizona Dance Theater, and Jazzin' Dance Co.,
performing works by major choreographers including Choo San Goh, George Balanchine, Jean-Paul Comelin,
and Arthur Mitchell. Rick has danced in the stage musicals West Side
Story and Chicago, and in the original movie Footloose.

For
over 20 years Rick
has choreographed and taught Ballet, Pas de Deux,
Boys Dance &
Ballet, and Jazz classes throughout the Twin Cities,
including at the
Classical Ballet Academy of Minnesota in St. Paul,
DanceWorks in
Lakeville, DeLange Dancers Studios in St. Paul and
Ballet Arts Minnesota (now Minnesota Dance Theatre & The Dance Institutee) in Minneapolis. Rick is one of the founders and a principal choreographer of Twin
Cities Ballet, and Co-Directer with his wife Denise of Ballet Royale
Minnesota, Twin Cities Ballet's official school and residence. Rick
also has a B.A. in
Philosophy (summa cum laude) and a Law degree from the University of
Minnesota.

" Home of the Nutcracker Ballet, South of the River "

Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota is a 501c(3) non profit charity

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.